LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



THE 

Characteristics of True Devotion. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
241110, cloth, extra, 60 cents. 



" There are twenty-six brief chapters of instruction, re- 
markable for their direction, thoroughness, and simplicity." — 
Living Church. 

" A very sweet and fragrant little volume, practical, and 
well adapted to all classes of Christians." — Morning Star. 

" Excellent little volume, full of sweet, refreshing thoughts." 
— Advocate and Guardian. 



THOMAS WHITTAKER, Publisher, 
2 and 3 Bible House, New York. 



THE CHRISTIAN 



Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer 



by the author of 

: Hidden Life of the Soul/' "Characteristics 
of True Devotion," etc. / 



a 7 (Translated from tfjc JFrcncfj 



'2.7 



NEW YORK 
THOMAS WHITTAKER 

2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE 
1SS5 



^Si 




Copyright, 1885, 
By THOMAS WHITTAKER. 




ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED 
BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 
BOSTON, MASS. 



PREFACE. 



HIS little work was written during Pere 
Grou's residence in England, probably 
about the year 1800. His editor says it 
was considered "one of the most precious fruits 
of his life of silence and labor " in that interval 
of twelve years that he spent at Lulworth. 

In 181 7, fourteen years after his death, an 
English translation of it was made by a Jesuit 
father, which, so far as we know, has passed 
entirely out of existence. 

It might perhaps, at first thought, be deemed 
unnecessary to publish an exposition of the 
Lord's Prayer, — that prayer so simple that 
every child knows it by heart. But when we 
consider that it has been daily repeated all over 



6 Preface. 

the Christian world for nearly two thousand 
years, and yet it is always fresh ; that nothing 
has ever been added to it, or taken from it ; that 
it is the model after which all Christian prayer 
has been formulated, — must we not admit, 
that, simple as its words are, it has a fathomless 
depth of meaning, an exhaustless store of holy 
treasure ? 

It is only the divers who find the pearls and 
the buried wealth of the sea : so it is only those 
who, in prayerful silence and solitude, search 
out the hidden things of God, who discover 
and disclose to us truths we should never other- 
wise have known. Thus Pere Grou has re- 
vealed in this familiar prayer of our Lord a 
fulness, a richness, and a profound application 
to every human life, which gives it new beauty 
and power. 

The late Rev. Dr Ewer, in the Lent of 1881, 
examined this translation in manuscript, — it 
having been then just finished, — and was so 
much impressed by it, he read it for the instruc- 
tion at Even Song, using it two special days each 



Pi-eface. 7 

week. Many inquiries were made with regard 
to it, all who listened to it being anxious to 
obtain a copy. Its publication has been neces- 
sarily delayed; but we trust that all who love 
the Lord's Prayer will now welcome this re- 
markable exposition of its several petitions, and 
will find it an aid to a higher and holier life. 

ELLEN M. FOGG. 

Boston, Advent, 1884. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Our Father . . . . . . .16 

II. Our Father 29 

III. Who art in Heaven 41 

IV. Hallowed be Thy Name . . . .48 
V. Thy Kingdom Come 56 

VI. Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is 

in Heaven 70 

VII. Give us this Day our Daily Bread . 81 
VIII. And Forgive us our Trespasses, as 
we Forgive those who Trespass 

against us 89 

IX. Lead us not into Temptation . -97 
X. But Deliver us from Evil . . .103 
XI. Practical Conclusion . . . -113 



THE CHRISTIAN 
Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer. 



|HE Lord's Prayer is incomparably 
the holiest and the most excellent of 
prayers, because Christ Himself is its Author. 
It comprises every right disposition of the 
Christian, both towards God and towards his 
neighbor; every thing which he requires, 
either for his bodily or his spiritual needs ; 
and especially the assured means of obtaining 
the pardon of his sins. It is open to the 
unlearned and the simple ; yet it has at the 
same time a sublimity to which the greatest 
genius cannot attain, a profoundness which 



12 The Christian Sanctified 

all study can never exhaust. It is suited to 
all ages, all times, and all conditions ; to sin- 
ners who wish to return to God, to penitents, 
to the pure and the innocent, to the righteous 
and the most perfect. It is adapted to en- 
kindle coldness ; to sustain and increase fer- 
vor ; to inspire both the timid with confidence 
and love, and those who are mercenary and 
interested with views free from all self-love ; 
and to awaken in great souls the most exalted 
sentiments. The intention of Christ, signified 
in this prayer, is, that every Christian should 
offer it every day, and should begin the day 
with it. There are few, perhaps, who fail in 
doing this ; but what benefit do they derive 
from the practice? From the earliest time, 
and in all liturgies, the prayer has formed a 
part of the office of Holy Communion ; and 
the Church has placed it at the head of every 
other sacred office. Christ has unquestion- 
ably comprised in this divine prayer, so short 



by the Lord's Prayer. 13 

and simple, all the points necessary to the 
sanctification of the Christian. But, that it 
may produce this effect, it is not sufficient 
merely to recite it with the mouth, however 
attentively. It is essential that we compre- 
hend its meaning, and cherish in our hearts 
the sentiments it expresses. And even this is 
not enough : we must also put it in practice ; 
and our thoughts, words, and actions must be 
conformed to it. Otherwise, instead of sanc- 
tifying us, it will serve to our condemnation, 
when, at the last day, Christ shall ask us if we 
have lived in accordance with the prayer that 
he prescribed. 

For how many years have we recited it 
every day, and how many times a day? Have 
we ever applied ourselves to meditating upon 
it, and to understanding it better? Have we 
deeply penetrated the sentiments it contains ? 
This point is essential , for God pays no at- 
tention to that which merely flows out of the 



14 The Christian Sanctified 

mouth, and springs not from the heart. In 
short, are we living in such a manner that it 
may be said of us, our life is a perfect and 
habitual practice of the Lord's Prayer? This 
is what few Christians make any reflection 
upon. It would seem that their whole duty 
consists only in pronouncing the prayer as a 
formula which they learned in childhood, and 
they do not dream that it is for their contin- 
ued help in the course of life. Though there 
are many expositions of it in all languages, I 
purpose to add another, avoiding equally the 
making it too long or too short. I shall en- 
deavor so to write this little treatise, that every 
community of Christians may accommodate 
itself to it. To adapt it to the interior state 
and to the personal need of each, would re- 
quire as many particular expositions as there 
are different classes of Christians. But this 
is the work of the Holy Spirit, to whom alone 
it belongs to proportion light and affection to 



by the Lord's Prayer. 15 

the interior character of the faithful. Let us 
therefore implore the grace He is so ready 
to grant ; and let me pray you to read this 
little book with the design of profiting by it. 



1 6 The Christian Sanctified 



CHAPTER I. 

©ur jFatfjm 

N the various prayers which Jesus Christ 
addresses to God in the gospel, He al- 
ways calls Him by the name of Father. This 
is because He is His Son by nature, begotten 
of Him before all worlds. God has adopted 
all of us in His Son. We are by grace the 
children of God, therefore the brothers of 
Christ. Before the mystery of this adoption 
was accomplished and fully revealed, patri- 
archs, prophets, and the righteous of the Old 
Covenant, scarcely employed any other name 
in speaking of God than that of God or 
Lord ; they spoke of God also by His terri- 
ble name Jehovah, and with more fear than 



by the Lord's Prayer. 1 7 

love : but, since the gospel was given, we can 
and ought to call God our Father. Christ 
authorizes it : He even commands it. This, 
He says, is how you shall pray : " Our Father 
who art in heaven." On every occasion He 
makes use of this expression, "Our Father in 
heaven ; " thus placing us in some way on a 
level with Himself. He says, " My God and 
your God, my Father and your Father." Of 
all names, that of "father" is most tender and 
most sweet ; it is that which at once inspires 
respect and submission, love and confidence. 
These feelings are rooted in our nature, and 
we should be inhuman if we had no respect 
for our fathers according to the flesh. How 
much more just is it, that we should have 
respect for our Father in heaven, the only 
sovereign Lord and Master of every creature, 
infinitely adorable, infinitely good, infinitely 
lovely ! How many titles which may be 
applied to Him alone ! Is He not indeed our 



1 8 The Christian Sanctified 

Father? From Him we have our being : our 
souls and bodies, with all their varied quali- 
ties, are from Him. He has made us exactly 
as it has pleased Him, by a perfectly free 
volition; and having no need of us, being 
infinitely happy in Himself, yet by His great 
goodness He preserves us every moment. 
Our life is a continual gift of His beneficence ; 
and, if He should withdraw His sustaining 
hand for one instant, we should fall into the 
nothingness from which He drew us. Can we 
doubt it, we who are not able to promise 
ourselves one moment of existence ? 

How, then, should we not love, how should 
we not fear to offend, the Author and Pre- 
server of our being, who has not only made 
us for His glory, but has rendered us capable 
of promoting it ? He has not only given us 
life, but He sustains it, and supplies every 
need. The whole universe exists for us only, 
and is designed for our service. Every thing 



by the Lord^s Prayer. 19 

which renders this earth an agreeable abode, 
every pleasure we enjoy, is a gift from His 
hand. He permits us to use all, but requires 
that we should do so according to His re- 
vealed will, and with the gratitude which is 
his due. Ungrateful and rebellious children 
that we are, how dare we turn against our 
Father His own blessings, forgetting Him, 
abandoning Him for the vile creatures of 
earth, and grieving Him by our evil ways? 
Thou didst foresee this, O God, yet Thou hast 
never ceased the outpouring of Thy bounty. 
What earthly father would have done like 
this ? It is this excess of Thy goodness that 
renders me the more guilty. Shall I still 
continue thus, notwithstanding the reproaches 
of my conscience, Thy voice within me? 
Ah ! take back Thy gifts, take away even my 
life, rather than that I should still offend Thee. 
Thou art my Father by creation, and much 
more my Father by grace. This temporal 



20 The Christian Sanctified 

life which I enjoy for a brief space is nothing 
compared with the eternal life for which Thou 
hast destined me, and which is my true end. 
What, indeed, is that life ? It is a life where 
I shall " see Thee face to face ; " where I 
"shall know Thee as I am known ; " where 
I shall possess Thee, the sovereign good ; 
where I shall share with Thee ineffable bliss. 
Yes, the heritage Thou hast reserved for me 
as Thy child is none other than Thyself. My 
infinitely great reward for having loved Thee 
on earth, the real and only happiness of my 
present state, will be to love Thee forever in 
heaven, and to be filled with this love. I 
believe this upon Thy word, but I cannot 
conceive it \ and it is essential to my happi- 
ness, that it should be so great I cannot pos- 
sibly comprehend it. This happiness is not 
only for my soul, but it is also destined for 
my body, which will participate in its own 
way in the glorious qualities with which my 



by the Lord^s Prayer. 21 

soul will be adorned. This, O my Father, 
is what from all eternity Thou hast designed 
for me. Thou wouldst have withdrawn from 
me all the evils of this present life, even 
death itself, had not the disobedience of my 
first parents placed an obstacle in the way. 
But this obstacle, insurmountable to all but 
Thyself, how Thy paternal love has removed 
it ! This incalculable wrong which they have 
done me, how hast Thou repaired it ! Ah ! 
who would have thought it, who would have 
believed it, if Thou hadst not Thyself revealed 
it? Thou hast given thine own, thine only 
Son, in all things equal to thyself. Because 
Thou didst will it, and He also did will it, He 
humbled Himself, and was made man, taking 
our human flesh, that He might suffer and die 
for the whole human race : for me, in my 
place, to expiate my sins, to reconcile me to 
His Father ; to give me the privilege of being 
called the child of God, of which I had 



22 The Christian Sanctified 

become unworthy ; to re-establish me in my 
right of celestial inheritance, of which I had 
been deprived. Beyond all this is the super- 
natural life which I receive from Thee by 
Jesus Christ ; those graces and means of sal- 
vation which Thou dost lavish upon me ; that 
paternal care and tenderness which Thou dost 
manifest ; that inconceivable goodness, always 
ready to pardon me when I return to Thee, 
even after the most grievous sins, a thousand 
times repeated ; that deep, yearning com- 
passion, which leads Thee to run after me 
when I go astray, to recall me, to extend Thy 
hand to raise me up again, to carry me in 
Thine arms, and to rejoice at finding me, as 
if it were a gain to Thee, as if Thou wert 
more interested in my salvation than I am 
myself. If God is so loving a Father towards 
sinners who sincerely return to Him, as so 
many illustrious penitents attest, and as we 
have perhaps experienced ourselves, what 



by the Lord's Prayer. 23 

must He be toward pure and innocent souls 
who have kept His grace, and have had no 
other desire than to please Him ? Christian 
soul, do not limit thyself here to the consid- 
eration of general benefits, whether natural 
or supernatural. Consider, as far as thou 
canst, all that God has done for thee in par- 
ticular. There is not one instant of thy life 
that is not marked by some kind of benevo- 
lence on His part, — some grace of preserva- 
tion, of protection, of invitation, of warning, 
of consolation and encouragement, and of 
sweet communion. 

What has He not done to withdraw thee 
from evil, and to lead thee to the right, to 
strengthen thee, and help thee to persevere? 
He alone knows what He has done for thee. 
Much of it escaped thy notice at the moment, 
or has since dropped out of thy memory ; 
and how much secret grace has never even 
come to thy knowledge ! But thou knowest 



24 The Christian Sanctified 

enough to be filled with love and gratitude 
to God. What would it be if thou hadst 
always been faithful to the grace received? 
Who can tell to what thou mightst not have 
attained? Dost thou owe Him less for the 
good He would have done, but which for 
thine own fault He could not do, than for 
that He has done ? If He were to show thee 
now this chain of graces He had prepared 
for thee, and the high degree of glory to 
which they might have raised thee, what 
would be thy surprise, thy confusion, thy 
gratitude ! Reflect now, and say to thyself, 
If God is my Father by nature, because He 
has created me, preserved me, and provided 
for every need ; and by grace, because He 
has adopted me in his Son, by the union of 
the divine and the human nature in Him who 
is the only object of his complaisant regard, 
so that He sees me and loves me only in 
Him, and destines me to the same heritage, 



by the Lord's Prayer. 25 

the same glory, the same felicity ; if, too, 
this Father is infinitely lovely, if He unites in 
Himself all perfection, if He is the sovereign 
good of every intelligent being ; if, in short, 
under whatever aspect I view Him, He has an 
indisputable right to all the affections of my 
heart, — why am I so cold, so indifferent, 
when I utter these words, " Our Father"? 
How is it that so often they awaken no idea 
in my mind, and excite no feeling? Ah ! it 
is because I have not meditated profoundly 
enough upon all that is included in that 
name of Father \ upon the love it implies, 
and of which God has given me such mani- 
fest proofs ; upon the law, as gentle as it is 
just, which commands me to consecrate to 
Him all my affections, and to desire no other 
happiness than that of loving Him, — for really 
there is not and can not be any other. I am 
convinced of it now, by the little I have just 
read. I should be much more convinced if 



26 The Christian Sanctified 

I should make this inexhaustible theme the 
common subject of my meditations ; if I 
should incessantly ask God for new light 
upon it ; if I should seek it in the principles 
of faith, in the mysteries of religion, in the 
precepts of the gospel, which reduce every 
thing to the love of our Father in heaven ; 
in works of piety, whose object is to inspire 
and nourish the love of God ; in the exam- 
ples of the saints, who became such because 
they loved God with all their mind, with all 
their heart, and with all their strength. Is 
He more their Father than mine ? Has He 
done more for them than for me ? Did He 
demand and expect more from them than 
He does from me ? My light upon this great 
subject would increase much more if I en- 
tered more fully into the practice of it ; if 
in my devotions and especially my commu- 
nions, if in my good works and in the accom- 
plishment of the duties of my position, if 



by the Lord's Prayer. 27 

in all the commonest acts of life, even such 
as eating and drinking, I had no other in- 
tention, no other aim, than to cherish and 
increase within me the love I owe to my 
Father in heaven. Am I here, indeed, for 
any other purpose than to love Him ? Can 
my happiness on earth, any more than in 
heaven, be found in aught else than in loving 
Him? Ah, how foolish and blind I have 
been ! How little I have known and prac- 
tised the first and greatest of all my duties, 
— that of filial love, of entire and absolute 
devotion to my Father, of obedience to His 
holy will, desiring to please Him in every 
thing, and fearing to offend Him in the small- 
est thing ! Pardon me the past, O most ten- 
der and best of fathers ! I am resolved by 
Thy grace to expiate and repair it ; to have 
no other thought, no other design, no other 
occupation, than to love, obey, and please 
Thee. As I can do nothing of myself, I give 



28 The Christian Sanctified 

myself to Thee with all the powers of my 
soul and all the faculties of my body; that 
all which is mine, and which depends upon 
myself, may be applied and consecrated to 
Thy most holy love. Grant me grace that I 
may never lose sight of this gift that I make 
to Thee, and that I may never utter the 
Lord's Prayer without renewing it ! This is 
my intention, O my God ! Permit me not 
to wander from it, nor to revoke it by any 
sin, or by any involuntary unfaithfulness. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 29 



CHAPTER II. 

®ur JFatfjcr. 

E have dwelt upon the name of father 
in considering God in his relations to 
each individual Christian only. Now let us 
consider this title as it relates to the whole 
body of Christians, composing one single 
family of which God is the Father, and, 
therefore, bound together in mutual love. 
Observe that, in the prayer which our Lord 
has taught us, we do not say my Father, but 
our Father ; that we do not address God in 
our own individual name, but in the name 
of all Christians ; demanding nothing for our- 
selves that we do not demand at the same 
time for them, with the same ardor, the same 



30 The Christian Sanctified 

desire of obtaining it for them as for ourselves 
from our common Father. This implies that 
we wish for them the same spiritual and tem- 
poral blessings that we wish for ourselves, 
that we love them as brethren, and that we 
are united to them by a pure and sincere 
charity. This fraternal love is, then, a duty 
which has its source in the Divine paternity, 
and in our common adoption in Jesus Christ. 
By baptism, every Christian is a child of God, 
the same as myself. He has also, like myself, 
Jesus Christ for his Brother. He has the 
same right that I have to the celestial heritage. 
I ought, then, to love Him because he belongs, 
like myself, to God the Father and to Jesus 
Christ, and is beloved by Them as I am. 

We are separated on earth by time and 
space ; we are, for the most part, unknown to 
each other : but we have the same faith, the 
same worship, the same motives to love God ; 
we have the same destiny ; and, if we fulfil it, 



by the Lord's Prayer. 31 

we shall be united forever in the celestial 
country where all will know and love each 
other, and will be happy not only each in his 
own personal happiness, but also in that of 
all others \ where there will be no more mine 
and thine, no more of self, because " God 
will be all in all." This is the expression of 
St. Paul ; the full meaning of which is incom- 
prehensible to us, it is so sublime : so intimate 
will be the union of the elect. God wishes 
that we should serve here below the appren- 
ticeship of this love, and that the charity 
which must reign in our hearts in heaven 
should spring up on earth, and make here an 
anticipated heaven ; and that it should in- 
crease in us even to our latest breath. 

Have I rightly understood, do I now under- 
stand, what that love is which I owe to my 
neighbor, especially my Christian brethren ; 
upon what foundation it rests, and unto what 
it should lead? Have I understood that 



32 The Christian Sanctified 

although I do not hate him, yet if I have no 
affection for him, if I do not interest myself 
in him as in myself, if his salvation is indiffer- 
ent to me, and if I do not contribute to him 
of- my means, I cannot with truth say, " Our 
Father," nor recite the Lord's Prayer with- 
out finding in it my condemnation ? I owe 
it to all men, because they are my equals, and 
made, like myself, in the image of God, to 
put myself in their place, and to put them 
in mine ; to treat them, according to the cir- 
cumstances, as I would like, in similar case, 
that they should treat me ; not to do to them 
what I would think wrong if done to me, 
but, on the contrary, to do them all the good 
which I should desire for myself. This is the 
natural law graven on every heart, which jus- 
tice and humanity require us to observe, and 
which we cannot violate without a secret re- 
proach from conscience. 

This law extends farther still. It is very 



by the Lord's Prayer. 33 

seldom, even among Christians, that it is faith- 
fully practised ; that it is not infringed, if not 
in externals, at least by the disposition of the 
heart. This is not yet, however, Christian 
charity, which embraces all the obligations of 
the natural law, but is not limited to that. 
It must be supernatural in its principle, which 
is no other than habitual grace infused into 
us by the Holy Spirit, and by which we are 
placed in a state of loving God for Himself, 
and our neighbor for the love of God ; but, if 
I lose this habitual grace, I am incapable of 
exercising this love towards God and my 
neighbor until I recover it again. It must 
be supernatural in its motive. If I love my 
neighbor only because of his good qualities, 
because of the congeniality of his character, 
because of the sen-ices I have received or 
expect from him, this love has nothing in 
common with Christian charity. It is not 
meritorious in me. I must love him from the 



34 The Christian Sanctified 

motives God has laid down • because he is, 
or may be, the child of God, and my brother 
in Jesus Christ ; because God and Jesus 
Christ love him, and have commanded me 
to love him. Charity must be supernatural 
in its exercise ; that is to say, grace must 
excite and accompany its acts, so that my 
will may concur with the divine will. The 
foundation of Christian charity is the father- 
hood of God. Because he is the Father, and 
loves his Son, and loves us in his Son, through 
whom He has adopted us, He desires that we 
should love each other reciprocally as He 
loves us ; hence, if we do not love our breth- 
ren, God does not love us, and we do not 
love Him. Judge from this how the love of 
God for us, and our love for Him, are insep- 
arable from our love for our brethren. To 
speak truly, it is one and the same love, ap- 
pearing different according to the subject in 
which it resides, and the object to which it is 



by the Lord's Prayer. 35 

applied. In like manner, the Son of God, 
since He has united Himself to human nature, 
loves us all in the individual nature that He 
has taken, and by which He condescended to 
become like us. Therefore, He commands us 
to love each other as He loves us ; and He 
wishes that we should love Him, not only in- 
asmuch as He is God, but inasmuch as He is 
man. If we do not love our brethren, it is 
impossible for us to love Him, either in His 
humanity or His divinity, either as the Son 
of God or as our Brother, Thus the love of 
Christ for man, and our love for Him, are 
equally inseparable from our love for our 
neighbor • rather, it is one and the same love. 
I find a third foundation of brotherly love 
in the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the 
Father and the Son eternally subsisting. It 
is by His dwelling in our hearts that we are 
truly the children of our heavenly Father, and 
the brethren of Jesus Christ. Oh, how we 



36 The Christian Sanctified 

should love each other, if we were all ani- 
mated by the same spirit, that is, by the same 
love ! It is by the Holy Spirit that God is 
love, and that the Father and the Son are 
one in the love which they mutually bear each 
other. It is by Him, also, that all Christians 
ought to be of one heart and one mind ; and 
they would indeed be so if He possessed them 
all. The love of our neighbor is, then, no 
less than the love of God, the necessary re- 
sult of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit ; and 
we banish Him from our hearts when we do 
not love our brethren. Unto what should this 
love lead us ? Even to the imitation and the 
expression, as nearly as possible, of the love 
of the eternal Father. When we were yet 
sinners and his enemies, He gave for us his 
only Son ; a gift which includes and surpasses 
every thing that an infinitely rich and power- 
ful God could give. He sacrificed Him to 
procure our salvation. He desired that His 



by the Lord's Prayer. 37 

death should be the pledge and the price of 
our reconciliation. He assured our happi- 
ness at the expense of what was most dear 
to Him. This is one example of the way 
we should love our neighbor. Now let us 
give another. 

Our love for our neighbor should bear the 
closest resemblance to that which Christ has 
manifested for us. It is my command, He 
said expressly, that " ye should love one an- 
other, even as I have loved you." M A new 
commandment I give unto you." The ex- 
ample of love I present to you to imitate did 
not exist before I came. My law is the law 
of love carried to excess, if there can be ex- 
cess in the love which God commands, after 
having giving you the example. St. John 
hesitates not to conclude that this command 
requires us to give our life for our neighbor. 
" We know," said he, " the love of God, in 
that He has riven His life for us. So ouriit 



38 The Christian Sanctified 

we to give our lives for the brethren.' ' Pay 
attention to these words "we ought." It is 
not counsel, but in certain circumstances a 
duty, especially when it concerns his eternal 
salvation. Indeed, this brotherly love should 
be the faithful expression of the reciprocal 
love of God the Father and the Son. Christ 
has declared His intention in this matter in 
His last prayer before His passion, which may 
be regarded as His last will. He said, " I 
pray for them also which shall believe on Me 
through their word ; that they all may be one ; 
as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that 
they also may be one in Us." And again He 
says, " that they may be one, even as We are 
one : I in them, and Thou in Me, that they 
may be made perfect in one ; . . . that the 
love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in 
them" (St. John xvii. 21-23, 2 ^)- Consider 
these words, and implore divine light that 
you may be able to comprehend them ; for 



by the Lord's Prayer. 39 

any explanation that we may attempt to give 
will only enfeeble them. 

My conclusion from all this is, that the love 
of our neighbor, as well as the love of God, is 
comprised in these two words, " Our Father ; " 
that they contain the most pressing motive 
and the most perfect model of both ; that we 
can never carry them too far ; that we always 
live below what the Father and the Son ex- 
pect and command in this respect ; and that 
the perfect consummation of this love, one in 
principle, and double in object, is reserved 
for heaven, after we have made every en- 
deavor here to attain to it. How is it with 
me? Can I reply, with any semblance of 
truth, that I wish to love, I try to love, and I 
do indeed love, God my Father, and my 
neighbor as I ought, always desiring to love 
them more? 

Finally, it is not by words nor by feeling 
that I must judge ; but by deeds^ which are 



40 The Christian Sanctified 

the true indication of the disposition of the 
heart. No self-examination is more impor- 
tant for me than that upon this point; and 
it should be made with the greatest careful- 
ness and honesty, since the whole Christian 
law is contained in these two precepts. 

In order that I may recite the Lord's 
Prayer, then, with more confidence, I will ex- 
amine my heart from time to time on these 
two points. I will pray God to put it, and 
by His grace I will try myself to put it, in the 
disposition in which it ought to be. Without 
this care, it will often happen that the senti- 
ment of my soul will not be conformed to 
that which my lips express, and I shall be in 
danger of being rejected by my Father in 
heaven. 



by the Lord^s Prayer. 41 



CHAPTER III. 
art in l^eabcn. 



SJHE heaven which is the abode of God 
: I is not the visible, material heaven 
where the stars shine. That dome was cre- 
ated for our use ; and before it existed, as 
after it shall be destroyed, God was and will 
be forever in the heaven which belongs to 
Himself; that is to say, in His own immens- 
ity. He has no other place than Himself. 
He exists nowhere, neither in the manner of 
any body, nor in that of other spirit. The 
Scriptures have represented heaven as the 
dwelling-place of God only to accommodate 
itself to our imperfect manner of thinking, 
to help us understand that His abode is 



42 The Christian Sanctified 

where light, order, and purity reign ; but it is 
a light, an order, and a purity that surpass all 
our imaginations and conceptions. Whatever 
may be our notion of the true heaven, where 
we hope one day to live, our Father is in 
heaven, and we are upon the earth. Heaven 
is, then, our true country ; that is, the region 
where our Father dwells : and the earth is 
our place of exile, a foreign sojourn, where* 
we only stop in passing, and where we have 
no fixed abode. Our Father does not appear 
to our sight ; we know Him only by His 
works, and by what faith reveals concerning 
Him : consequently, we can never be happy 
till we shall be where we can see Him as 
He is. 

Heaven, the dwelling of our Father, is the 
assemblage of all true, substantial, immu- 
table, eternal good. The good which the 
world offers has nothing real, except as it 
concerns the present life, which is only a 



by the Lord's Prayer. 43 

dream, a vapor which vanishes as soon as it 
appears. Its good is only a vain appearance ; 
it has no consistence ; it is passing away, and 
will some day be destroyed. At the moment 
of death, it will exist for us no longer. This 
being so, as we cannot doubt, what folly to 
attach ourselves to earth, for which we were 
not made, and which was made only for our 
bodily needs during the time of our exile ! 
What folly to seek an establishment here, an 
enduring fortune, or true happiness, as if we 
could find them ; to have a longing desire 
for these things, to be eager and anxious for 
them ; to form projects, the success of which 
often only tends to torment us ! What greater 
folly than to sacrifice conscience and eternal 
salvation to the acquisition and possession of 
this false wealth ! How can we be so blinded 
by our passions? Where is our reason? 
Where is our faith? Even though all were 
to be ended with us at death, even though 



44 The Christian Sanctified 

we should die without any hope of life be- 
yond the grave, without any hope of heaven, 
ought we not, even for our own comfort, to be 
moderate in desire, and in the use of worldly 
goods ? Oh ! how is it that we can so debase 
ourselves? that we can forget, disdain, and 
trample under foot, our high destination? 
Our Father has created us only for Himself 
and for heaven. All that is not God is too 
small for the vast capacity of my soul. I 
carry in the depths of my heart a desire for 
immortality. The very idea of annihilation 
horrifies me. My dearest and constant wish 
is to be forever and forever happy. Faith 
shows me heaven as the place of my eternal 
felicity; it shows it to me as the heritage 
which our Father has promised, which His 
only Son has acquired at the cost of His 
blood ; to which I have a right by my title 
of Christian and child of God ; of which I 
cannot be deprived except by my own fault : 



by the Lord's Prayer. 45 

yet I do not turn all my thoughts and affec- 
tions towards heaven ; I do not sigh inces- 
santly after it ; I do not march to my country 
by the way Christ has marked out ; I do not 
remove all obstacles, and surmount all the 
difficulties which lie in my path. I pause, I 
turn away, I recoil ; I make little effort to 
recall to mind the thought of heaven. Too 
often, alas ! I am occupied only with the 
world \ I incline towards it like the animals. 
I become attached to it ; I lose myself in it. 
I should even be tempted sometimes to sacri- 
fice heaven, if I might remain always upon 
earth, although assured by constant experi- 
ence that I am not, and cannot be, happy 
here. Is this conceivable ? Yet this is what 
most Christians do ; perhaps what I have 
done, what I may do again. Though I may 
not have carried things to this excess, have I 
not at least cause to reproach myself for es- 
teeming and loving this world too much ; for 



46 The Christian Sanctified 

taking pride in my wealth, or being ashamed 
and wretched because of my poverty; for 
preferring myself to those who are more 
lowly born, who have less wealth, less honor, 
less power, less influence, than myself; or for 
envying those who are superior to me in all 
these vain advantages ; for thinking more 
of preserving and increasing them, than of 
amassing a treasure of grace and glory for 
heaven? Notwithstanding all this, I still say 
every day, " Our Father who art in heaven ; " 
but, in saying it, I have much difficulty in 
raising my thoughts and my desires to heaven. 
I aspire very feebly to the happiness of seeing 
and possessing my Father. I do not lan- 
guish like the saints in expectation of the 
moment which will unite me to Him. On 
the contrary, I am tempted to fear that mo- 
ment, and to banish it from my remem- 
brance. Is it that I do not love my Father 
enough ? Is it that I feel too far removed 



by the Lord's Prayer. 47 

from the holiness necessary to enjoy His pres- 
ence? Is it that I do not make sufficient 
effort to acquire this holiness? Oh, how I 
should humiliate myself and be confounded ! 
But, O God, let me not remain in this state ! 
Let me rather change my heart and conduct. 
I wish it, and it is Thou who makest me wish 
it. Continue and finish in me this work of 
Thy grace ; and, if necessary, plant so much 
pain and bitterness over the few days I have 
to pass on earth, that, in spite of natural de- 
sire, I may be compelled to sigh incessantly 
after the blessedness of eternity ! 



48 The Christian Sanctified 



CHAPTER IV. 

,. ™CCORDING to the order in which 
Jesus Christ put the petitions which 



compose His prayer, it is evident that the 
first duty of the Christian is to desire and 
demand above every thing else that the name 
of God may be hallowed. This name, infi- 
nitely holy in itself, is hallowed by Christians 
when they acknowledge and adore it ; when 
they glorify it by the worship they render it, 
and by the tribute of their praise ; when 
they not only carefully avoid profaning and 
dishonoring it, but when all their thoughts, 
words, and actions tend to its glory; and 
when, in all their conduct, this intention is, 



by the Lord's Prayer. 49 

as it should be, at the head of all others. 
What is really my principal end? It is to 
promote the glory of God. Why did He 
create me and all other things? For His 
own glory. Of what is He especially jealous? 
Of His own glory. He lavishes upon us all 
His riches, even to wishing to share with us 
His happiness ; yet what is the one thing He 
will not, He can not, communicate to us ? His 
glory. That which contributes in nothing to 
His glory is lost, and has no merit before 
Him. That which wounds His glory, in the 
slightest degree, displeases and offends Him, 
and can only draw down upon us His chas- 
tisement, unless reparation is made by a sin- 
cere repentance. Am I fully persuaded of 
this great truth, which is the basis of reli- 
gion and morality, and at the same time the 
principal source of my happiness ? My first 
interest being the interest of God, I am sure 
of all good, in working to glorify Him. The 



50 The Christian Sanctified 

idea of His glory is so exalted that it com- 
prises eminently every thing which is ad- 
vantageous for this life and the other. In 
occupying myself with what concerns God, 
I oblige Him to take special care of what 
concerns me. What am I doing, then, when 
in the service of God I am so absorbed with 
myself as to refer almost every thing to 
myself? If I do not absolutely peril my 
salvation, I certainly do hinder my perfec- 
tion ; beside, I realize very imperfectly the 
happiness attached to holiness, even here 
below ; and the reward which is promised on 
high will suffer a notable diminution. 

It is very important, then, that as many 
are guided by self-interest, and in their devo- 
tions and good works are too much occupied 
with themselves, they should seriously con- 
sider this. Mingling myself among others, 
am I not also of this number? Have I 
sought above every thing and in every thing 



by the Lord's Pi-ayer. 51 

the glory of our Father in heaven ? Is it the 
object which occurs to my mind the most 
easily and the most frequently? In regard 
to my sins, is that which afflicts me most, 
that which excites in me the deepest repent- 
ance, the thought of having dishonored the 
holiness of God, and having done what is 
derogatory to His glory? When I pray to 
Him, is my first care to praise Him, to adore 
Him for His perfections, to recount His bene- 
fits, to offer myself to Him, that I may glorify 
Him : in short, to abase myself before Him ? 
Am I occupied in His presence with any 
thing beside myself and my own needs ? Am 
I not tempted to fear that He will forget me 
if I forget myself in order to think of Him ? 
Does it often occur to me to implore Him 
that His name may be hallowed, that He may 
make it known to the unfaithful who are 
ignorant of Him, that the whole universe may 
render Him the respect and the homage which 



52 The Christian Sanctified 

are His due? Is this the desire which is 
uppermost in my heart? Am I consumed 
and devoured with zeal at sight of public 
scandals, and the progress of impiety and 
wickedness? Is it the subject of my high- 
est joy to see or understand the things 
which contribute to the glory of God, — the 
propagation of the faith, the reformation of 
manners, the renewing of piety, the public 
improvement? If it is true that the glory 
of the Father is that of the child, can I 
deceive myself that I am very far removed 
from the spirit which should characterize a 
child of God, while I have little love for 
Him, and am little interested in Him ? O my 
Father ! change, I beseech thee, my interior 
dispositions with regard to this great object. 
Inspire me from this moment, for all the 
remainder of my life, with a firm, inviolable 
resolution to hallow Thy name in every thing, 
— in my thoughts and intentions, my affec- 



by the Loi'd's Prayer. 53 

tions and desires, my words and actions ; to 
hallow it from day to day in the manner 
which is most excellent and most worthy of 
Thee ; to endeavor that it may be hallowed 
by all who depend upon me, and over whom 
I have authority; to oppose with all my 
power, at least by my prayers, my com- 
plaints, and my tears spread before Thee, 
the torrent of impiety, irreligion, and license 
which threatens to overwhelm the world. 
Never, perhaps, have Thy children had cause 
to pray with more earnestness, that Thy name 
may be hallowed ; and so great is the evil, 
that Thou alone canst find the remedy. I 
unite myself, now and always, with all holy 
souls who do not cease continually to offer 
Thee their prayers, communions, fastings, suf- 
ferings, and even life itself, in reparation of 
so many indignities. 

That the name of God may be hallowed, 
is to every Christian a matter of the most 



54 The Christian Sanctified 

vast importance ; it embraces, in a certain 
sense, every moment and every circumstance 
of life, and the employment of every faculty. 
It demands of those who take it truly to 
heart a constant watchfulness over them- 
selves, great purity of intention, and a con- 
stant fidelity to grace. Christian soul, if 
thou sincerely desirest to obtain full success, 
the best means is to surrender entirely to 
God, that He may sanctify His name in thee 
and by thee, according to the design He has 
formed, and which He will manifest only in 
proportion as thou leavest thyself at His dis- 
posal. This consecration is the most perfect 
manner in which thou canst hallow His most 
adorable name ; and, moreover, in making 
God the absolute master of this liberty, thou 
puttest Him on guard over thee ; thou en- 
gagest Him to employ thee wholly for His 
glory. He alone knows in what, how, and to 
what points He wishes to be glorified by thee. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 55 

He alone has the means at His disposal. He 
asks only thy co-operation, which will be full 
and entire if He holds thee in His hand as an 
instrument pliable and bending to His will. 
If thou minglest with His work thine own 
views or thine own energy, or if thou 
shouldst attempt to anticipate rather than to 
follow His grace, thou wilt only spoil the 
work. In this dependence thou art exempt 
from all anxiety, from all fear, from all doubt, 
from all illusion ; thou art secure against the 
dangers either of cowardice or presumption ; 
and thou hast the fullest moral assurance of 
hallowing the name of God as perfectly as 
thou art capable, for it is He properly who 
hallows it, and thou only secondest Him. 



56 The Christian Sanctified 



CHAPTER V. 

&f)2 Ifcmg&om Come* 

[B'SIHE kingdom here desired is not that 
| |fj§fl of nature, over which God necessarily 
exercises supreme authority and an absolute 
independence, as the Creator and Master of 
the universe. Nobody can wrest this kingdom 
from Him, nor weaken it, nor share it with 
Him, nor disturb it, nor suspend its move- 
ments in the slightest degree. We are sub- 
ject to it like all other creatures ; and we 
could not escape from it, whatever desire 
we might have to do so, or whatever effort we 
might make. This petition of the Lord's 
Prayer concerns the moral kingdom in which 
God rules over our wills, but only with our 



by the Lord's Prayer. 5 7 

consent ; to which we are entirely free to 
submit, although we have no right to resist, 
and which never extends beyond our obedi- 
ence. This kingdom is glorious for God, 
because there is nothing forced on our part : 
it is the result of our own free choice. God 
proposes that we should accept Him for our 
King ; He invites us, He urges us, He even 
commands us ; and He adds to this rewards 
and threats : but He uses no compulsion. 
Indeed, what would be the use of constraint, 
when it is a question of winning the heart, in 
which violence can do nothing, and which is 
always master, as is proved by saying, I will, 
or I will not, have God to reign over me ? It 
is doubtless supremely just that God should 
rule over His children. The love they owe 
Him imposes upon them the law of sub- 
mission and implicit obedience ; and this 
law can neither be hard nor oppressive to the 
true children of God. On the contrary, they 



58 The Christian Sanctified 

ought to consider it their glory and their 
happiness to observe it, and perform cheer- 
fully all the sacrifices it may demand. Be- 
sides, the law of God has nothing in its 
object to which it is not for our interest 
to submit, it being entirely for our advan- 
tage ; and He exercises it with so much 
gentleness, so much wisdom, so much regard 
for our liberty, that He renders it infinitely 
agreeable. I say to God every day, "Thy 
kingdom come." If these are not vain words 
uttered by the lips alone, without the heart 
taking any part in them, it is evident that I 
thereby pledge myself to let Him reign su- 
premely over me ; also, desiring that He may 
reign over others, to contribute to that end 
as far as lies in my power, according to my 
state and condition in life. Let us see if I 
fulfil these duties. Does God reign over my 
spirit? Does He govern all my thoughts? 
Does He regulate all my opinions ? In every 



by the Loi'd's Prayer. 59 

emergency, do I follow the Spirit of God ? or 
is it not rather my own spirit to which I 
listen? Have I no regard to what the world 
thinks, though I know it to be contrary to 
the thought of God ? If I do not pass lightly 
over this examination, I shall find much in 
my life to reform. St. Paul said, "As many 
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
sons of God." So those who are led by any 
other spirit are not among His children. 
That sentence of the apostle, which is abso- 
lute, and admits neither exception nor re- 
striction, contains a solemn warning. Shall I 
say, in order to re-assure myself, that I follow 
the leading of the Spirit of God in all essen- 
tial things, and that I follow my own spirit 
and that of the world in all matters of less 
consequence ? 

It is obvious, then, that in these last things 
I do not conduct myself as a child of God, 
and in this respect am unworthy of the title. 



60 The Christian Sanctified 

It is, then, no less obvious, that, in following 
either the spirit of the world or my own 
spirit in matters which appear non-essential, 
I am liable to follow them also in things of 
moment, and to go far astray from the Spirit 
of God. Let us come to the facts. What 
are those things which I allow myself to judge 
according to the ideas of the world and to 
my own ideas, and not according to the Spirit 
of God? The world and my own spirit re- 
ject all the maxims of the gospel, dictated 
by the Spirit of God, concerning detachment 
from the riches, the greatness, and the pleas- 
ures of the world ; concerning self-renunci- 
ation, and the necessity of bearing one's cross ; 
concerning the love of God and one's neigh- 
bor, — even, if it were possible, to the ex- 
tinction of self-love ; concerning meekness, 
patience, humility, purity of intention ; con- 
cerning the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life. Dare I say, that, 



by the Lord's Prayer. 61 

on all these and on other points, I judge 
according to the Spirit of God, without re- 
gard to my own judgment or to that of the 
world? Dare I say that any one of these 
points is of little consequence to the Chris-., 
tian, and that he may safely judge of it other- 
wise than God judges? Dare I assert, as to 
any one of these points, what is essential, and 
what is not, and draw the precise limits 
where, without endangering my salvation, I 
may differ from God's judgment, and may 
follow my own opinions and those of the 
world? Even among those who have em- 
braced a life of devotion, there are unhappily 
many who do not permit God to reign in 
their hearts without hinderance : to regulate 
their thoughts and their conduct in matters 
of religion. If they were directed only by 
the Spirit of God. false and imperfect de- 
votions would not be so common. They 
would pray more from the heart than the 



62 The Christian Sanctified 

lips ; they would be more earnest in reform- 
ing the interior than in composing the ex- 
terior ; in being docile, rather than obstinate 
and opinionated ; in allowing themselves to 
be judged by those who direct them, rather 
than preferring to judge themselves, and per- 
haps judging their directors ; in concealing 
their good works, rather than proclaiming 
them ; in bending their character to grace, 
rather than in accommodating grace to their 
character : in short, for this detail would be 
infinite, they would be careful to examine, 
condemn, and correct themselves, rather than 
to observe, censure, and reform others ; they 
would embrace a more just, more noble, 
more extended idea of Christian perfection ; 
they would waste nothing in minutiae, little- 
ness, and scruples, either in undue severity or 
indulgence, and all sorts of compromises with 
nature. The kingdom of God established in 
our hearts will not permit us to change our 



by the Lord's Prayer. 63 

plan of action, and pass continually from one 
method to another : it will maintain in us a 
uniformity, an equanimity of temper, a peace 
and spiritual joy, that nothing can change or 
disturb. Does God reign over my heart? 
Is He the master of its movements and its 
affections? Is it He who excites them, who 
moderates them, who directs them? Do I 
apply myself, under His direction, to purify 
myself as much as possible from the leaven of 
self-love, — that enemy of all charity, — and 
even of the legitimate and true love that I 
owe to myself? It is principally by my ear- 
nestness in discovering self-love, so skilful in 
disguising itself; by my courage in attacking 
it, and my ardor in pursuing it ; by my de- 
termination to spare it in nothing, — that I can 
decide whether the kingdom of God is estab- 
lished in my heart.' Although I may have no 
criminal affections, yet have I no dangerous 
ones? Have I none that are vain and use- 



64 The Christian Sanctified 

less? Have I none that are excessive, how- 
ever legitimate ? Have I none purely natural, 
which it is my duty, to sanctify, and which 
God would most assuredly sanctify if He 
governed me? 

The principal study of the Christian should 
be his own heart ; but is he capable of it if 
he is not enlightened by divine light ? And 
does God communicate this light abundantly, 
at all times, to all objects, even the most deli- 
cate and imperceptible, for any but those over 
whom He reigns absolutely? The principal 
thing about which the Christian should oc- 
cupy himself is the reformation of his heart ; 
but will he have the will to undertake it, and 
the strength to accomplish it, if God does 
not constantly supply him with both these at 
his need ? To whom does He grant this, in a 
measure sufficient for the consummation of 
this great work, except to those who have 
given themselves to Him, that He may reign 



by the Lord's Prayer. 65 

over them, and make them after His own 
heart? The success of this work depends 
doubtless upon ourselves, but it depends 
much more upon God ; and He works upon it 
with affection and distinguished care, only in 
favor of those who oppose no wilful resist- 
ance. Oh, what a difference in purity of 
heart there is between him who has made 
God the Master of his liberty, and him who 
pretends to dispose of himself in certain 
things, and up to a certain point, which he 
cannot fix, and which, if he could fix, it 
would be very difficult, not to say impos- 
sible, to hold ! Let God once reign over 
the heart and will, and He will not delay 
to reign over the whole being. All will obey 
Him. Nothing will resist Him. He will easily 
triumph over the opposition of a corrupt 
nature, of passions and habits even the most 
inveterate. What order, what harmony, what 
holiness, in the interior and exterior life of 



66 The Christian Sanctified 

a Christian whom God governs entirely ! 
Though it is supernatural grace which prompts 
him, yet he is so easy, so uniform, so un- 
affected, that he always appears perfectly 
natural. And this is what I ask of God, for 
His glory and my sanctification, when I say, 
" Thy kingdom come." Have I realized the 
fulness of this petition ? Is it sincere on my 
part ? No : if I do not give myself to God 
without reserve, I do not wish its entire ac- 
complishment. His dominion over me must 
be the result of my free and entire will ; and 
I seem often to submit against my will, as to 
a painful yoke, that I shake off as much as I 
can. It should be unlimited, and I contract 
it : I limit it in a thousand things where I 
wish to preserve some right over myself. I do 
not offer this petition for myself alone. I 
must offer it for all Christians and for all men. 
I must desire that the kingdom of God may 
extend everywhere ; that there may be no 



by the Lord^s Prayer. 67 

reasonable being on earth who is not sub- 
missive to it ; that true religion, with its dog- 
mas and its morals, may be known, embraced, 
and practised in all the coming centuries, in 
every country, with all the perfection it de- 
mands, and of which men are capable, — in 
a word, that the universe may be an assembly 
of saints, depending for every thing upon 
grace ; and I ought to do every thing in my 
power, according to my condition, my talents, 
and the circumstances in which I am placed 
by Providence, for the establishment of this 
kingdom. It is to this end that all authority 
should be exercised ; that of a sovereign over 
his subjects, of a magistrate over those sub- 
mitted to his charge, of a father over his 
children, of a master over his servants, of an 
instructor over the youths confided to him. 
To establish the kingdom of God in the soul, 
is especially the object of the ministrations of 
priests ; and they ought to be entirely devoted 



68 The Christian Sanctified 

to it. It becomes me, then, to see what are 
my obligations in this respect; how I fulfil 
them ; in what I have not performed them, 
and in what I have performed them badly ; 
and to think with fear of the rigorous account 
I shall have to render at the great day. Our 
Father has promised that I shall reign with 
Him forever in heaven, if I allow Him to reign 
over me below, and over others in all that 
depends upon me. Jesus Christ, seated on 
the throne of His Father, has promised to 
share it with me. He says, " To him that 
overcometh, will I grant to sit with Me in My 
throne." His word is pledged to it. This 
reign of God, and of the elect with God, in 
eternity, is the great object in which this 
petition of the Lord's Prayer terminates. It 
is the kingdom to which, for the glory of God 
and for my own happiness, I must aspire with 
all my might, carefully fulfilling the condition 
which assures me the enjoyment of it, and 



by the Lord's Prayer, 69 

despising the wealth, the grandeur, and the 
pleasures of earth, which are nothing in com- 
parison to it. 



70 The Christian Sanctified 



CHAPTER VI. 

bt Hone on lEartfj as it is in %eatoen. 

IffSS^IE who here teaches us to ask for our- 
|y.Bg| | selves and others the fulfilment of the 
will of our heavenly Father is the Son of 
God Himself, who descended from heaven to 
do His Father's will, whose life's work was 
to accomplish that holy will, who devoted 
Himself to it from the first moment of His 
entrance into the world, and who did, always 
and in every thing, that which was agreeable 
to His Father. If Christ, truly God as He 
was, was obliged, on account of His humanity, 
to submit to the will of His Father ; and if 
He really carried His submission and His obe- 
dience even to death, and to death upon 



by the Lo7-d's Prayer. 71 

the cross, how much more ought we to be 
submissive to God, — we who are only His 
creatures, we to whom He who is God of 
God gave us the example ! And He gave it 
because He became like us, and represented 
us. How should we fulfil this divine will? 
As blessed spirits and saints accomplish it in 
heaven, — with the same fidelity, the same 
promptitude, the same love, the same detach- 
ment from outward things and from all self- 
interest. The good pleasure of God is the 
supreme rule among the inhabitants of 
heaven. When He signifies it to them, they 
conform to it with perfect exactness : they 
omit nothing ; they dispense with nothing ; 
they make no excuse — such a thought even 
does not occur to them ; they do not stop to 
reason about the order they have received, 
but they execute it ; they do not deliberate, 
they act ; they do not delay, they leave every 
thing, and go the moment God sends them. 



72 The Christian Sanctified 

They not only have no reluctance, but they 
manifest an eagerness, a zeal, an inexpressible 
joy ; they obey because they love, and as fully 
as they love ; and they rest all their happiness 
on obedience. Their disinterestedness is so 
pure that they never think of themselves ; and, 
at the slightest indication of the good pleasure 
of God, they would be ready to sacrifice their 
happiness. 

Such is the model that Jesus Christ has 
given us m this prayer, and that He has Him- 
self infinitely surpassed. If it is just that the 
will of God should be the only law of heaven, 
is it not also just that it should be the only 
law of earth ? Are we any less PJis creatures 
than the celestial spirits ? Does not His do- 
minion extend over us, as well as over them ? 
Have we rights and privileges that they have 
not? If conformity to the divine will is the 
principal source of their happiness, why 
should it not be also of ours? The only dif- 



by the Lord's Prayer, 73 

ference between us is, that we are still on pro- 
bation, — consequently are left to our own free 
will to obey or not, as we choose, — while they 
are at the goal : their condition is fixed and 
unchangeable ; and they are resolved, in the 
presence and possession of God, never to 
deviate from His will. This difference is to 
our advantage in more senses than one. Obe- 
dience above is a recompense : here below it 
is a merit. Our obedience alone can glorify 
God, because it is free on our part ; while 
theirs, however voluntary, is still a necessary 
result of their state. It is true, indeed, that 
our obedience is painful, it demands constant 
struggle, it costs sacrifice \ but it is just this 
that renders it acceptable to God, and pre- 
cious in His sight. We should like it to cost us 
nothing but blessedness. But is this reason- 
able ? Is it consistent with our present con- 
dition? We have one means of rendering 
our obedience sweet and easy. Nothing pre- 



74 The Christian Sanctified 

vents our using it : rather, every thing encour- 
ages us thereto ; and that is, to give ourselves 
wholly to God, that He Himself may accom- 
plish His will in us, bending ours by the gen- 
tleness and the efficacy of His grace. The 
difficulty is, that we always prefer to remain 
master of ourselves in every encounter ; hence 
it happens that what God wills, we do not will. 
Let us renounce this fatal right, which is 
a veritable usurpation. Let us acknowledge 
that we hold our free will from God ; let us 
consecrate it to Him, and use it according to 
His good pleasure. When we have conse- 
crated it, love will teach us, as it taught the 
saints, to rest our glory and our happiness in 
submission and conformity to His will • there- 
by we shall attain to the closest resemblance 
to the blessed to which we can possibly aspire 
on earth. If obedience is painful, we shall 
not regard it so, but we shall rather rejoice to 
make a sacrifice for God. In the various 



by the Lord's P?'ayer. 75 

events of life which vex or humiliate or cru- 
cify us, we shall behold only the good pleas- 
ure of God ; and this will be our strength 
and our consolation. If we naturally feel any 
repugnance, it will be an opportunity to wres- 
tle and to conquer. Whatever sacrifice it 
may be necessary to make to the divine will, 
we shall make it heartily, in the thought that 
love lives upon sacrifice. On the one side, 
our courage and our generosity will gradually 
increase ; on the other, difficulties will disap- 
pear, and that which seemed impracticable in 
the beginning will become easy in the end. 
At last the will of God will become the nour- 
ishment of our soul ; so much so, that it will 
not be able to live except by that holy will, 
as is the case exactly with the angels and 
the saints, excepting, of course, the difference 
between their state and ours. How many 
saints have arrived at this degree of perfec- 
tion? We say daily, "Thy will be done," as 



76 The Christian Sanctified 

they did : but we limit ourselves too often to 
saying it with the lips, and with little atten- 
tion, and only formally; while they said it 
from the heart, with reflection, and by the 
power of grace. What we are satisfied with 
often reciting, without making it the rule of 
our life, they endeavored constantly to put 
into practice. But we have the same induce- 
ments which they had ; we are in similar cir- 
cumstances : not a day passes without pre- 
senting some occasion to conform ourselves 
to the divine will, some occasion that vexes 
and disturbs us ; it may be to correct, or it 
may be to prove us. But we do not make 
the same use of these opportunities that the 
saints did. We rebel interiorly; we mur- 
mur; we yield to impatience, irritability, 
discouragement, sadness, sometimes to blas- 
phemy and despair. What do we gain there- 
by ? We only increase the trouble ; and the 
will of God is none the less accomplished, but 



by the Lord's Prayer. 77 

without comfort, and without merit to our- 
selves. 

Is it possible that a way of holiness being 
open to us, so sure, so short, so simple, so 
consistent not only with the principles of 
faith, but with the light of reason ; at the same 
time so easy, so sweet, so comforting, — and 
yet we refuse to walk in it ? What does it re- 
quire ? To wish constantly what God wishes, 
and not to wish what He does not wish. Our 
perfection, our present happiness even, hangs 
only on this point. We cannot doubt it. Let 
us, then, immediately put our will in this holy 
disposition, and let us make, by grace, every 
effort to maintain it there. Then we shall 
find the peace that we have sought in vain 
elsewhere, — a peace interior, solid, lasting, 
sometimes even delightful, in the midst of the 
greatest afflictions and the most desolating 
crosses. What is it that God desires only, 
next to His own glory? Our happiness. 



78 The Christian Sanctified 

In the arrangements of Providence with re- 
gard to us, His end is to conciliate these two 
things, and to make them always move on 
together in the front rank. For this He has 
devised infallible means. It remains only for 
us to let Him work, and to acquiesce in every 
thing which happens to us, whether it is di- 
rectly from Him, or by the intervention of 
His creatures. In wishing what He wishes, 
we wish for our own happiness. In accept- 
ing the means that He employs, we accept 
that which cannot fail to lead to it. Let us 
consider, then, what God ordains for us. We 
shall see that all events, even the smallest, 
are designed to make us practise some virtue, 
or to correct some vice ; especially to humili- 
ate our pride, and mortify our self-love. We 
know by experience that these are the two 
sources of all the sins that close the gate of 
heaven, and of all the troubles which pre- 
vent our tasting any real happiness on earth. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 79 

Therefore, in conforming in every thing to the 
will of God, we exhaust, little by little, both 
of these sources ; and we secure our happi- 
ness, as far as possible, both in this life and 
in the life to come. Let us pray, then, sin- 
cerely, and with all the affection of our soul, 
that for the glory of God, for our happiness 
and that of our brothers, the will of God may 
be done by them and by us, and in them and 
in us. Let us pray that we may never raise 
any obstacle ; and, as this is a daily practice, 
let us accustom ourselves to being humble, 
to bending under the powerful hand of God, 
and to accepting every thing which comes 
from Him, persuaded that He has in view 
only our good. In all trying circumstances, 
let us have on our lips, and especially on our 
heart, these admirable words of Christ, " Thy 
will, not mine, be done." 

It may be observed • here, that these three 
petitions are the best acts of love we can 



80 The Christian Sanctified 

make ; and, consequently, fidelity in reducing 
them to practice is a continual exercise of 
love, even of the purest love, since God is 
directly its object, — which does not exclude 
our happiness, but which assures it. We ad- 
dress these prayers to God, because He alone 
can give us the disposition of love which they 
imply, because we cannot co-operate to per- 
form them effectually as we ought, without 
His grace ; and, as every blessing comes from 
Him, we begin with the prayer which obtains 
them all for us. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 81 



CHAPTER VII. 

@i\tt us Ojis Bag our Bath? 13rcatJ. 

T is only after having prayed to God 
about that which concerns Himself, 
that we are directed to think of ourselves, 
and to solicit Him for our own needs. In the 
order of nature, children ask their fathers for 
their daily food. In this respect, God is in- 
comparably more our Father than any earthly 
father can be ; for He, as first and universal 
cause, provides for the wants of every crea- 
ture : and under the name of bread is com- 
prised every thing which is necessary to pre- 
serve this present life. All men, young and 
old, rich and poor, great and small, are, as 
regards temporal necessities, in the condition 



82 The Christian Sanctified 

of children, absolutely unable to provide for' 
themselves unless God furnishes the means. 
We contribute to it, indeed, by our care, our 
labor, and our industry ; for, since the Fall, 
we have been condemned to eat our bread by 
the sweat of our brow. But our labor and 
our industry can produce nothing of them- 
selves : they are only aids to Providence, who 
is the true support of the human race, who 
merits on this account all our gratitude, and 
to whom we manifest our dependence, when 
we ask Him every day to " give us our daily 
bread." Since the fall of the first man, he 
and all his posterity have been obliged to 
labor in order to live : it follows, conse- 
quently, that whoever can work, and does not 
work, has no right to a subsistence ; he has 
no claim to ask any thing of God, and should 
not complain if it is refused him. If, however, 
he neglects nothing which he can accomplish 
by his own labor, and by the employment of 



by the Lord^s Prayer, 83 

his talents according to the command of God, 
then he may confidently trust that He who 
feeds the birds of the air will not be unmind- 
ful of him. It is bread, it is what is necessary, 
that we ask of God ; what will nourish the body, 
and not what will encourage sensuality ; what 
will protect us from harm, not what will keep 
us in idleness, luxury, and vanity. Our wants 
supplied, we should be content to rest there, 
and avoid all excess, which is no less harm- 
ful to the body than to the soul. 

Let us use the gifts of God according to 
His intention, and not to offend Him. Let 
us confine ourselves to their simple use, and 
not seek indulgences which are unworthy of 
an immortal soul, and which God forbids. 
Let us always remember that the present life 
is only a means of obtaining eternal life ; and, 
if our present life ought not to be our end, 
how much less should that be which is des- 
tined only to preserve it ! If God refused 



84 The Christian Sanctified 

temporal blessings to those who abused them, 
we should never abuse them. Should we be 
less sober and less prudent because the cor- 
rection of this abuse is deferred, it may be, 
to the other life? Let us, then, eat in His 
presence with gratitude the bread He gives 
us ; let us eat it with the intention of devot- 
ing to His service the strength it gives. Let 
us not be anxious for the morrow. It is our 
daily bread we ask. Let it suffice that we 
obtain it, and let us not extend our thought 
beyond. To-morrow we shall repeat our re- 
quest for new needs. Has one ever seen him 
want for bread, who, after taking the pre- 
scribed measures, leaves the result and re- 
poses upon God? Why these fears, these 
forebodings, these precautions, so derogatory 
to the goodness of our Father? Why are we 
not like children who prefer to obey and 
please their parents, and who live without care 
of that which concerns their life ? Avarice, — 



by the Lord's Prayer. 85 

disguised under the term economy, — and 
distrust, anxiety, and all the troubles of which 
bodily wants are the occasion, are condemned 
by this petition of the Lord's Prayer ; which, 
if rightly understood and practised, will ad- 
mirably regulate our feelings and our conduct 
with regard to earthly things, will detach our 
affections, will moderate our desire to acquire 
and keep, and will elevate us to a noble inde- 
pendence in the use of that which our neces- 
sities demand. We do not say, " give me 
my bread," but, " give us our bread ; " asking 
our common Father for all His children, upon 
a principle of universal charity. If, then, 
some of our brethren are needy, and God 
gives us an abundance, it is an indication that 
He wishes we should come to the relief of 
their indigence, giving them a portion of our 
superfluity : for it is evident that it is His 
intention to grant support to all, since He 
requires we should ask it for all ; but this 



86 The Christian Sanctified 

intention would be frustrated if the rich were 
not the established ministers of His provi- 
dence in respect to the poor, and if they 
should not enter into His arrangements which 
are thus regulated to give opportunity to the 
rich as well as the poor to exercise many 
virtues, especially as He is not pledged to 
provide for the poor by miracle. Hence, we 
go directly contrary to the will of God, and 
to the petition He has put in our mouth, 
when we do not, from our abundance, relieve 
the poverty of our brothers ; and we deserve 
to be deprived of the comforts we have the 
hardness to refuse them. If God does not 
deprive us of them, it is because He has in 
reserve for us some greater sorrow. Besides, 
the bread which God gives you is due no less 
to the prayers of the poor than to your own 
prayers ; since they have asked for you as 
much as for themselves. You owe Him, 
then, as His portion, what you have above 



by the Lord's Prayer. 87 

your need ; and He has an acquired right to 
it. 

According to the explanation of the holy fa- 
thers, this bread is the Eucharistic Bread, which 
is the supernatural bread of our souls, which 
should be no less daily than ordinary bread, 
and which our Father would be disposed to 
distribute every day if we were in a condition 
to eat it every day. We should neither doubt 
His intention in this respect, nor that of Jesus 
Christ, who gives His flesh in the eucharist, that 
we may understand that, as common bread is 
our daily food, so His body is designed to be 
the daily nourishment of our souls. 

It is also the wish of our mother the 
Church, who has declared that she desired 
the faithful should communicate every time 
they assist at the Holy Sacrifice, according to 
the custom of the early centuries ; and cer- 
tainly, as St. Ambrose said, we ought all to 
live in such a way as to be fit to participate 



88 The Christian Sanctified 

daily in this heavenly banquet. It is at least 
important that we should not be satisfied 
with a triennial communion, which the Church 
makes a rigorous obligation, or even with a 
monthly communion only ; and that we should 
never let a long time pass without approach- 
ing the holy table. Communion frequently 
received, with the right disposition, is the most 
effectual means of attaining to Christian per- 
fection. The Fathers understand also by this 
bread, the word of God, whether announced 
from Christian pulpits, or given in books of 
devotion. Let us, then, be careful to hear 
this divine word as often as we can, with the 
desire to profit by it; and let us form the 
habit of daily spiritual reading. We shall 
draw from both practices the greatest advan- 
tage ) and we shall be indeed guilty if we do 
not make use of the supernatural food which 
God gives us in profusion, and which He re- 
quires us to ask of Him. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 89 



CHAPTER VIII. 

8n& JFotgtbe us our trespasses, as toe JForgtbe 
tfjese fofjo trespass against us. 

JHE sense of the fifth petition is ex- 
pressed in these words, " Forgive us 
our debts, as we forgive our debtors/' Who 
of us is not indebted to Divine Justice on ac- 
count of his sins ? We are not only debtors to 
God, but insolvent debtors. If He did not re- 
mit our debts, it would be impossible for us to 
discharge them. His goodness inclines Him 
to remit them, provided we ask Him ; but, in 
the prayer He has dictated, He imposes a con- 
dition so just that we cannot refuse it. It 
often happens, that, even as we offend God, so 
our neighbor offends us, and becomes a debtor 



90 The Christian Sanctified 

to us, as we are to God. If we forgive our 
neighbor, if we remit the debt at his request, 
if we retain no resentment, no ill-will toward 
him, God, on His part, has promised to grant 
us the pardon of our qrTences, to remit the 
debts we have contracted towards Him, and 
to remember them no more against us. But 
He has promised it only on this condition ; 
and He so rigorously requires us to fulfil it, 
that He has made it a law that we shall not 
ask the forgiveness of our sins except in pro- 
portion as we forgive our neighbor's. " For- 
give us as we forgive : " that is to say, evi- 
dently, do not forgive us if we do not for- 
give ; require Thy rights of us in all severity, 
if we require ours the same. But if we are 
indulgent, and disposed to pardon ; if when 
our neighbor expresses his repentance, and 
begs us to forget the wrong or the trouble he 
has caused, we renounce all thought of re- 
venge, all rancor even, and become sincerely 



by the Lord's Prayer. 91 

reconciled to him, God will do the same 
by us : He will show Himself an indulgent 
Father to His guilty children, and will re- 
store us to His favor. Is not the condition 
just? Is it not even infinitely advantageous? 
Our brothers are our equals by nature, but 
what are we compared with God ? A mere 
nothing before the Infinite Being. However 
great may be the offence of our neighbor, 
what is it compared with that of which we 
are guilty toward the Divine Majesty? Christ 
estimated the death of our brother at a hun- 
dred farthings, and ours at ten thousand tal- 
ents ; but He made this valuation only to 
touch our imagination, for there is abso- 
lutely no comparison between the two debts. 
Has the resentment, which we pretend it 
would be just to hold against our neighbor, 
any proportion to that which God has a right 
to exercise over us ? Is our neighbor as pow- 
erless to give us satisfaction as we are to sat- 



92 The Christian Sanctified 

isfy the Divine Justice ? What good results to 
us if God forgives, and what evil if He does 
not forgive ! Weigh well all these considera- 
tions, and you will conclude that God could 
not put our reconciliation with Him on better 
terms. Do not regard as worthless the con- 
solation of being able to say at death, I have 
forgiven, Lord, and I trust, upon Thy word, 
that Thou wilt forgive me. But the laws of 
the world, you say, my interests even, are op- 
posed to my forgiving. Your interests ! Have 
you any greater interest than that of obtain- 
ing the mercy of God? ' Were it necessary 
for that to sacrifice your wealth, your happi- 
ness, your life even, could you balance it? 
The sentence has been pronounced, " He shall 
have judgment without mercy, that hath 
shewed no mercy." Will you live and die 
with the assurance of experiencing a like 
judgment? The laws of the world! What 
are the laws of the world to the Christian, 



by the LorcFs Prayer. 93 

who should recognize no other law than the 
gospel ? Consider the two precepts of Christ 
which immediately follow His prayer, " If 
ye forgive men their trespasses, your heav- 
enly Father will also forgive you." First 
precept, infinitely favorable to you. " But 
if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
will your Father forgive you." Second pre- 
cept, infinitely terrible to you. Do not al- 
lege either the world or your own interest 
as an excuse. The obstacle that hinders 
is your pride ; and that is the source of all 
your sins against God. It is that which God 
wishes to crush, in commanding you to for- 
give your brother ; it is that which closes your 
heart against repentance : and it is to soften 
the heart, to open it to the grace of repent- 
ance, that God has prescribed meekness, and 
indulgence towards your neighbor. 

We must not be deceived. Sincere for- 
giveness of injuries, and cordial love towards 



94 The Christian Sanctified 

our enemies, are the most difficult points in 
Christian morals. But the difficulty springs 
not from the depth of the thing itself; it re- 
sults rather from the little care we take to 
unite ourselves to God our Father, and to be- 
come like Him. God, though infinitely great, 
and offended as He is, has no difficulty in for- 
giving us, in foregoing his own rights. He 
even anticipates us, and makes the first ad- 
vances. Alas ! should we ever of ourselves 
think to return to Him, should we be capable 
of it, if His grace did not excite us thereto. 
Yet we who are nothing, to whom in reality 
nothing is due, we who, strictly speaking, 
cannot complain of any offence, often have 
great difficulty in forgiving our neighbor, even 
when he returns of his own accord, acknowl- 
edges his wrong, and humiliates himself be- 
fore us. It costs us still more to make 
advances, and to invite reconciliation. That 
is something not to be mentioned. If we 



by the Lord's Prayer. 95 

have pardoned once, that is a reason for not 
pardoning the second time, — a certain sign 
that we have not entirely forgotten the injury, 
and that there is always remaining in the heart 
a leaven of hatred. Does God treat us in 
this way? Do we not find in Him again and 
again the same clemency, after having often 
and long abused it? Ah ! " Be ye perfect, as 
your Father in heaven is perfect." 

It is on the subject of loving our enemies, 
that Christ gives us this rule. Let us forgive 
as He does, without bounds and without meas- 
ure. Let us not fix any limit beyond which 
grace is not to be hoped from us. In this 
respect, let us have the same disposition to- 
ward our brothers that God has toward us. 
Let us remember from that which experience 
may already have taught us, that, as there is 
no torment equal to that which a proud and 
vindictive soul suffers, so there is no joy so 
pure as that which one who pardons tastes ; 



96 The Christian Sanctified 

no peace like that of a meek and humble 
spirit, which no offence can irritate ; nor is 
there any means more efficacious for gaining 
an easy access to God, for praying to Him 
with confidence, and obtaining from Him the 
graces we most need. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 97 



CHAPTER IX. 

ILcatr us not into £rmptatton. 

(B'gaBlVERY thing is a snare to us in this 
|[).iaB| life ; every thing is cause or occasion 
of temptation. No age is exempt ; no time 
nor place, no condition of life, no occupation, 
is secure from it. Temptations from external 
objects, which flatter the senses, excite the 
imagination, allure and seduce the soul ; 
temptations from the world in the midst of 
which we must live, and whose maxims, prin- 
ciples, examples, authority even, and tyranny, 
draw us toward vice, and restrain us from 
virtue ; temptations from Satan, who never 
sleeps, who goes about incessantly "like a 
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," 



98 The Christian Sanctified 

who respects neither solitude nor places of 
prayer nor the most holy exercises, who 
stirs up the passions, who spreads a thick 
cloud over the spirit, who overwhelms the 
soul with trouble, who violently shakes the 
will, and excites such delight that it is almost 
impossible to discern whether we have con- 
sented or not. Temptations still more dan- 
gerous spring from our pride, our self-love, 
our unholy passion, our curiosity, all the vices 
that we have in embryo, and that age only 
develops and strengthens. Instead of find- 
ing in ourselves any resource against the 
enemy without, we are our own most formid- 
able enemies. We should have nothing to 
fear from others if we were not secretly in 
league with them. Even with a good inten- 
tion, and after the strongest resolutions, what 
weakness we show in emergencies ! We are 
astonished at ourselves ; we could not have 
believed that we were so frail. If the hand 



by the Lord's Prayer, 99 

of God did not sustain us, we should make 
as many falls as steps. 

Nevertheless, in spite of all their dangers, 
temptations are useful and even necessary. 
"What does he know who has never been 
tried?" He knows not the extent of his 
misery and corruption ; he foolishly presumes 
upon his strength ; he has not true and deep 
humility. He knows not God, nor the work 
of His grace in guiding souls, nor the perfect 
confidence they ought to have in Him, nor 
His faithfulness in helping the needy who call 
upon Him, nor the invincible power of His 
protection. The more devoted one is to 
Him, the more acceptable one is in His sight, 
the more should one expect to be proved by 
temptation. To wish to be exempt from it, is 
to renounce the most valuable thing in the 
practice of virtue. 

What shall we do, then, and what part 
shall we take between the necessity of being 



i ob The Christian Sanctified 

tempted for our advancement, and the peril 
of being conquered ? Nothing but to throw 
ourselves into the arms of our Father, and to 
implore Him to keep us from falling. Let us 
call upon Him incessantly. We have no fear 
of not being heard, and helped accordingly. 
Let us keep very near Him, and evil will not 
approach us. His holy presence, if we main- 
tain it preciously in our heart, will repulse all 
attacks of the enemy, and will prevent him, 
notwithstanding all his efforts, from pene- 
trating into that heart in which God dwells. 

But to be assured that God will not let us 
fall into temptation, in the first place we must 
never expose ourselves to it rashly, nor seek 
occasion for it, but rather anticipate it, and 
flee from it as far as possible. It has been 
said, that "he who loves perils shall perish 
in them." That we may feel under obliga- 
tion to avoid them, it is not necessary that 
they should be evidently dangerous : it is 



by the Lord^s Prayer. 101 

sufficient that they be suspicious, and that we 
have good reason to distrust them. In the 
second place, if the occasions are unavoid- 
able, or entire surprise, let us not be alarmed : 
let us have recourse promptly to God, in 
order that He may sustain us in the trying 
circumstances in which His Providence has 
placed us, or that He may withdraw us from 
the evil into which our own imprudence has 
thrown us ; and let us not doubt that He will 
come to our help. In the third place, it is 
necessary to have an habitual horror of sin, 
without distinction of its magnitude or light- 
ness ; so that this impression may be the first 
we receive at the slightest danger of exposure 
to it. It is necessary, furthermore, to be so 
accustomed to prayer, that recourse to it on 
critical occasions may be the first movement 
of the soul, almost before any deliberation. 
In general, distrust of ourselves, and confi- 
dence in God, watchfulness, recollection, the 



102 The Christian Sanctified 

spirit of prayer, fidelity to grace even in 
little things, will shield us from a great many 
temptations, or will sustain us in those that 
God may permit for our spiritual good. 



by the Lord's Prayer. 103 



CHAPTER X. 

But Bcltber us from £btl, 

IfcWMjdlE must understand here by " evil," what 
[yiAiy Christ understood, and what He wishes 
His disciples should understand. In the 
thought of God, which must be the rule of our 
thought, there are but two veritable evils, — 
sin, and hell the eternal punishment of sin. 
These are the evils that the Christian should 
fear, and from which he should ask God to 
deliver both himself and others. While we 
live, we have always to apprehend lest we fall 
into sin, and from that into hell. Our per- 
fect deliverance will not take place till death, 
if death finds us in a state of grace. It de- 
pends upon ourselves, with the divine help 



io4 The Christian Sanctified 

which is offered us, to preserve sanctifying 
grace, or to recover it ; but it depends only 
upon God to establish us forever in that happy 
state by the stroke of death, which He gives 
when He pleases. It is this which is called 
final perseverance, the most precious of all 
the gifts of God, because it assures our eter- 
nal happiness. It is a pure gift, that we 
can acquire only by humble entreaty, as St. 
Augustine said, and that we should implore 
absolutely and unconditionally ; for it is not 
permitted us to be indifferent in this respect, 
even under any pretext of disinterestedness. 
No faithful soul either can or should say to 
God, Deliver us from sin and eternal death, if 
it be Thy good pleasure ; but, Deliver us from 
both these because it is Thy good pleasure. 
As, however, that which merits hell, that 
which the pains of hell punish sufficiently 
only because they are eternal, that which 
directly attacks the infinite majesty and holi- 



by the Lord's Prayer. 105 

ness of God, is in itself a greater evil than 
hell, and more to be feared, it follows that 
sin is the evil that every Christian should 
fear above all others ; and that he should 
supremely detest and avoid all compromise 
with it, because it is an offence against God : 
and there is nothing a Christian should not 
choose, nothing to which he should not ex- 
pose himself, rather than to offend God. 
Whoever does not think thus has no idea of 
sin or its malice. 

We ask God to deliver us from death, and 
to preserve us during this life, because our 
corruption and our weakness are so great that 
it is impossible for us to be secure without 
His special protection ; because the circum- 
stances and occasions to which we are exposed 
often depend upon His Providence alone, and 
it belongs only to Him to remove or avert 
them ; for He is the Master, who only can 
change the interior disposition which prompts 



106 The Christian Sanctified 

us to sin, and He is always ready to hear 
beyond our prayers, and to second all our 
efforts. But this prayer is not sincere, if we 
are not saturated, by meditation and reading, 
with the great truths calculated to inspire us 
with the most lively horror of sin ; if, know- 
ing our weakness by oft-repeated experiences, 
we do not carefully avoid every occasion of 
sin ; or if, on the contrary, we seek such oc- 
casions, and throw ourselves into them with 
zest and eagerness ; if we presume upon our- 
selves, or on the help of God, which is not 
vouchsafed when we voluntarily expose our- 
selves ; if we live in dissipation and for- 
getfulness of God, leaving our senses and 
imagination open to exterior objects ; espe- 
cially if we do not use the means God has put 
into our hands to keep us from sin, such as 
watchfulness, prayer, fasting, and frequenting 
the sacraments. Let us add, finally, that, to 
preserve ourselves more certainly from griev- 



by the Lord's Prayer. 107 

ous sin, we must be determined not to com- 
mit the slightest fault intentionally, and to 
correspond to grace with the utmost fidelity. 
Therefore it is important to be convinced in 
good time, that, next to mortal sin, the greatest 
of evils is venial sin in itself, and still more in 
its consequences, when it is committed delib- 
erately \ that all voluntary resistance to grace 
is never free from fault • that it grieves the 
Holy Spirit, and leads the soul gradually to its 
downfall. Hence, in order to ask God with 
perfect confidence to deliver us from evil, 
and to reckon upon His assistance in our 
need, let us begin by delivering ourselves 
from venial sin with the help of His actual 
grace. The right use of thi sgrace will draw 
down upon us other graces. Then let us 
take every precaution and measure that 
Christian prudence may suggest. Let us 
watch over every movement of our heart. 
Let us stifle all our passions at their birth ; let 



108 The Christian Sanctified 

us give them no encouragement, and neve* 
let them gather so much force that we cannot 
master them. Let us not fail ourselves, and 
God will never fail us. But to hope that He 
will deliver us, while we do nothing for our 
own deliverance, is a gross illusion. God re- 
quires of us efforts. He places us in a con- 
dition to make them. He has promised to 
second them ; and, if we are courageous and 
faithful, He will crown our fidelity with final 
perseverance. Concerning temporal evils, 
whether public, such as wars, famine, pesti- 
lence, and other similar calamities ; or pri- 
vate, which attack our property, our health, 
our peace, or even our life, — these are not 
properly evils to the Christian, but rather tests 
which become to him either a blessing or a 
curse, according to the way in which he re- 
gards them, and the use he makes of them. 
Sickness, infirmities, and death are the just 
punishment of the disobedience of our first 



by the Lord's Prayer. 109 

parents. In considering them thus in rela- 
tion to divine justice, let us submit to them 
for ourselves as well as for those who are dear 
to us ; let us accept them without a murmur 
or complaint \ and let us draw from them 
what God designs we shall draw for our sal- 
vation. 

There are other evils caused by the injus- 
tice of man. God does not desire them, but 
He permits them, and will make them serve 
His own glory ; His intention being that we 
should use them to our sanctification. Let us 
regard them under this aspect, in the order of 
His providence. Let us endure them, because 
such is His good pleasure. Let us heartily 
forgive those who cause them ; and let us 
pray, as our Lord commands, for those who 
persecute and slander us. Let us never for- 
get that the greatest good, the redemption of 
the human race, was accomplished by Jesus 
Christ enduring similar evils for us \ and that 



no The Christian Sanctified 

the most heinous of crimes has given place 
to the most sublime of sacrifices. In uniting 
our cross to His, we are assured of eternal 
happiness ; and we are indebted for it to 
what the world considers as great evils. 

Finally, there are evils that we can impute 
only to ourselves ; our passions and excesses 
of what kindsoever, which affect our health, 
waste our fortune, create troubles, and ruin 
our reputation. These evils are a means 
which God in his mercy employs to draw us 
away from our disorders, to lead us to expiate 
them, and to open to us the way to heaven. 
They produce this effect, if, after having de- 
tected and corrected the evil habits which are 
their source, we accept them in a spirit of 
penitence, and bless God for having afflicted 
and humiliated us. The spirit of the Church 
is to pray God to avert public calamities, or 
to cause them entirely to cease, in order that 
Christian people may be less occupied with 



by the Lord's Prayer, in 

their own miseries, and may serve Him with 
more devotion, tranquillity, and spiritual joy. 
And it is the duty of the faithful to unite with 
the Church in this intention , but also, while 
the calamities last, to bear them with pa- 
tience. God permits us to ask Him for de- 
liverance from temporal evils, for ourselves 
and for those in whom we are interested \ but 
this prayer must be humble, peaceful, submis- 
sive, and subordinate to His good pleasure, for 
our own spiritual good and that of our neigh- 
bor. The faithful are only too much carried 
away with themselves not to pray in these 
extremities ; there is no need of exhorting 
them to that : but it is seldom that they do it 
with a pure and Christian intention ; nature 
often has more to do in these prayers than 
grace. It is necessary, also, that they ask 
with as much ardor and importunity for de- 
liverance from their spiritual evils, and for 
advancement in virtue. The present life, 



ii2 The Christian Sanctified 

even, regarded in one sense, is an evil, be- 
cause of the temptations which beset us, and 
the constant danger of offending God and 
losing our souls. It is an evil in that it is 
an exile, and keeps us banished from the 
heavenly country and the sight of God. 
Under this aspect, it is proper to ask Him to 
shorten our days, yet being willing to remain 
upon earth as long as it may please Him. 
The desire for death in good Christians 
springs from the desire to make their salva- 
tion sure ; and, in holy souls, it is the effect 
of divine love which makes them sigh for the 
moment when they shall be re-united forever 
to Him they love. May this desire one day 
be ours ! 



by the Lord's Prayer. 113 



CHAPTER XL 

ISracttcai Conclusion. 

iLa'sdlHIS short exposition is sufficient to 
I show that the Lord's Prayer includes 
or implies the principal points of Christian 
morality, and of our duty to God, our neigh- 
bor, and ourselves. Each, according to his 
need and condition, will discover there, on 
searching, an inexhaustible source of light and 
affection. But it is necessary to put it in 
practice. It is useless to read, reflect, and 
meditate, if we do not resolve to perform. 
We must also expect to render a strict ac- 
count to God for the light which has enlight- 
ened without reforming us. I grant that it is 
not possible, every time we recite this prayer, 



ii4 The Christian Sanctified 

to have distinctly before our minds the detail 
of all the things contained therein. Neither 
does God require this ; but He desires that we 
should be so sufficiently instructed, according 
to the capacity of each, in the meaning of 
this divine prayer, as to have in our hearts 
the feelings which ought to result from it, and 
to make it the rule of our life. To this end 
it would be well to read seriously, attentively, 
and repeatedly the preceding exposition, or 
some similar one ; permitting grace to act 
upon our souls, and abandoning ourselves to 
the holy thoughts and pious affections that it 
may inspire. It would be still better to take 
each one of the articles of which this prayer is 
composed, as a subject of daily meditation, — 
each one applying it to his own special state 
and disposition, — and to continue this exer- 
cise just as long as the soul can find any nour- 
ishment in it. If one has no facility in medi- 
tating, it will suffice to put one's self in the 



by the Lord's Prayer. 115 

presence of God, beseeching Him to instruct 
one Himself, and to give the understanding 
and spirit of each petition, with the neces- 
sary grace to practise it. This prayer, if we 
will only make it, listening to God in silence, 
with humility, simplicity, and docility, will be 
as instructive and useful as books and reflec- 
tions, though we should never neglect to 
make use of these when we have them at 
hand. We should examine ourselves seri- 
ously, to ascertain if we have lived up to 
this time, or if we have resolved to live 
henceforth, according to the spirit of this 
prayer : for example, if we regard God as 
a father, and if we have in this respect the 
disposition He has a right to expect from 
His children ; if we love other Christians as 
brothers in Jesus Christ, and if we wish 
for them all the temporal and spiritual good 
we desire for ourselves, and do for them all 
the good we are able ; to examine, also, in 



n6 The Christian Sanctified 

what we hallow the name of God, and in what 
we fail; what we can do more for ourselves 
and others ; and so on with each petition. 

An examination like this, made in the pres- 
ence of God, will be of the greatest advan- 
tage, and will put us in the way of an entire 
reformation of our principles, our affections, 
and our conduct. It will prompt us to make 
upon each point good resolutions, to follow 
them, and to render a faithful account of 
them, which is the work of a good will. 
In thus submitting the plan of life to the 
Lord's Prayer, we should always have before 
our eyes one simple object, which should 
not fatigue the attention of the mind ; the 
strength of the will should be concentrated 
upon this single end, and we should consider 
whether we are making progress, or whether 
we are going backward. This prayer should 
be the subject of our daily examination, and 
it should hold a place as an exercise for Holy 



by the Lord's Prayer. 117 

Communion. We should draw from it, dur- 
ing the day, subjects of meditation and prayer, 
and a throng of holy thoughts and aspirations. 
Every thing invites to the embracing of a 
method so simple, founded upon the authority 
of Christ Himself; and, by following it, we 
shall surely attain to a very high perfection. 
How many good souls have been sanctified, 
knowing only "Our Father," and having no 
other teacher than the Holy Spirit ! Though 
we should possess no other advantage than 
that of reciting this divine prayer with a 
recollected spirit, and a heart penetrated with 
affection, this would be very great, and would 
draw down upon us the benediction of our 
heavenly Father. 

St. Augustine said formally, in several 
places, that the Lord's Prayer, recited as it 
should be, would entirely efface our daily 
faults. Is not this a reason for learning to 
say it well ? 



n8 The Christian Sanctified. 

I will end this little work by an excellent 
precept, which I have insinuated more than 
once , viz., Give yourself to Jesus Christ with 
all your heart, that He may instruct you Him- 
self upon the truths He has comprehended 
in His prayer, that He may inspire in you a 
clear perception of them, and that He may 
grant you the grace necessary to practise them 
as perfectly as He desires. You will certainly 
be heard if you desire to be. 



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